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In less than five months, local high school seniors will fill the McDonald Center with rowdy shouts of celebration as they gather for the annual Grad Blast. Stretching back more than 25 years, the all-night event offers Chugiak and Eagle River graduates a chance to let loose and party in a safe and chaperoned environment.

The kids in Roberta Stein’s music class use every part of their body in the learning process. “It’s experiential music,” Stein said. “We see it and we move it and we sing it and we act it out.” Stein teaches a weekly, 45-minute class for third- and fourth-graders in the art studio at Avalanche Frozen Yogurt in Eagle River.

The mother of a newborn baby that was found dead in an Eagle River park two weeks ago was charged with second-degree murder Friday, Oct. 25. U.S. Army Alaska Specialist Ashley Ard, 24, was taken to Anchorage Jail on Friday evening with bail set at $250,000 cash plus a third-party custodian, Anchorage Police said in a written statement.

For many years we have watched the ebb and flow of salmon in Alaska’s waters; in particular, the great king salmon and the world’s greatest salmon fishery, the Kenai River. Salmon of all types play a major role in the life and wellbeing of our state. They provide food, subsistence, income, commercial activity and sport.

With the pull of a ribbon, dozens of children sprinted toward the new playground equipment at the Eagle River Boys and Girls Club on Oct. 23. The newest addition to the club has been a longtime coming. “The only thing they had to play on the past 23 years was the basketball court,” branch manager Tracey Hupe said.

Alaska’s long-lived monarch — the king salmon — has fallen from its throne. The species, which once thrived as a fabled ruler in state waters, was sought-after by fisherman from all over the world. Their massive presence in rivers like the Kenai, the Yukon and the Taku, to name only a few, brought sport and commercial fisherman to banks and river mouths for a chance to harvest this mighty resource.

Growing up in Eagle River, Chelsea Berry dreamed of becoming a conductor or composer. Instead she became a successful singer/songwriter. She credits much of this to Alaska folksinger Robin Hopper, who was her babysitter and her mother’s best friend. Throughout Berry’s childhood there was always folk music playing, always talk of musicians and songs.